


Weird Autumn

by haloburns



Series: Band Practice [3]
Category: Night In The Woods (Video Game)
Genre: Angst I guess, Bea is mopey and sad, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Mostly hurt, all of these children make my heart hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 08:42:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11620005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haloburns/pseuds/haloburns
Summary: Bea is sad and angry Mae is gone and then back suddenly. Mae is weird in a way Bea doesn't know how to express except through music for the weird band she'd joined after Casey left. Huh, maybe she's onto something...





	Weird Autumn

Bea trudged from her apartment to the store at six a.m., the sun hiding between the autumn leaves. 

She made her way inside her family’s hardware store, flipping the sign to open but not turning any lights on. No one needed hardware tools at six a.m. anyway. Bea settled behind the counter, the ancient wooden stool groaning beneath her weight, and pulled out her beaten tablet. The lock screen glowed blue with a picture of her and her mom laughing. The password flashed away to an open notepad. She dug in her purse for her tablet pen and went to place it on the screen, but her mind went blank. There was nothing to write  _ about _ . Possum Springs was just as dead. Just as stressful. She needed a fucking break.

Her eye traveled back to the blank notepad sitting in front of her before getting a weird urge.

Bea stood and flipped the sign back to closed and locked the door. Business was slowing down and she often didn’t make her first sale until nine a.m. or later. Making her way back to the concrete staircase hidden in the back of the storeroom, Bea put her headphones on and started playing the chord progression she had been working on. The notes flowed over her and she listened for weird jumps or anything that simply didn’t feel right as she climbed the stairs to the roof.

Once she reached the roof, she settled into the chilly dawn. There was a rickety lawn chair leaning against a wall that Bea grabbed and pulled open, setting herself facing the sun peeking over the edges of the hills. She stared at the fall colors dotting the hills and the slight chill of the air, the smell of fall settling in, and the warmth of the sun had Bea dozing off; she was always tired and she never got opportunities like these. As she drifted between waking and sleep, memories bobbed to the surface: Mae running and laughing through the fallen leaves, even as a senior in high school, bouncing through them like she was seven, not seventeen. Mae insisting on making leaf piles they could jump in, even though they always got stuck everywhere. Mae telling Bea they were going in a couple’s costume sophomore year and Bea’s heart hammering out of her chest. They were going as Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable. (Bea insisted on being Kim because let’s be honest...She’d be doing most of the saving in that situation.) Pain enveloped Bea as she remembered:  Mae hadn’t come back for Longest Night or Harfest... Harfest had been her favorite…

Bea remembered the day she’d left for school. Mae sat curled up in the backseat as her parents drove her away, not even bothering to wave through the back window at her friends who stood clustered around the “Leaving So Soon?” sign at the edge of Possum Springs

_ She hadn’t said goodbye.  _

Two people left her life suddenly and with no goodbye, and now Bea felt empty. Mae never bothered to keep in contact and so empty she had stayed. Even the town felt empty without Mae and her mischief. No one yelling at her to get down from the power lines. No one complaining she set something on fire. No one saying  _ anything  _ about Mae anymore.

And who knew if she’d ever come back?  _ She had no reason to _ , Bea thought bitterly. She had everything, a functional home, a college education, and more support than she could ask for. So why bother coming back? Angus and Gregg were leaving too, but money’s tight and they can’t afford a car. And Bea was stuck here indefinitely…

Angry and tired, Bea closed her eyes tighter against the brightening sky and rising sun. She knew in her heart that because Mae hadn’t been back over the summer either, she wasn’t coming back for Harfest or Longest Night. 

It was going to be another weird autumn without her.

The words swirled through Bea’s mind in gold and red letters, branding themselves in her mind’s eye.

When she finally made her way downstairs again, flipping the opening sign, she scribbled small lyrics alongside the bass riffs on her tablet. A few people wandered in, looking for anything to do but never really buying anything.

They didn’t make a sale until eleven that day.

* * *

Bea’s phone chimed around three as she made her second sale of the day. She looked down to see Gregg’s name and several exclamation points.

**::** **_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ ** **::**

Another followed the first swiftly and her heart dropped.

**::** **_Mae’s baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ ** **::**

Mae? Bea dropped her phone in shock. When she went to pick her phone up to ask how long Mae was in town, Gregg sent another highly excited text.

**::** **_We’re having practice, come on!!!!!!!!!!_ ** **::** Rolling her eyes, Bea grabbed her tablet from where it sat on the table behind the counter, locking the money in the safe in the back, and headed out the front door. Once she had locked the door, she had already forgotten her question. Excitement bubbled in her as she walked the short distance to the abandoned Party Barn, slipping in unnoticed. She stared at the back of Mae’s head; her hair was still faded red and blue, talking with Gregg as if nothing had changed. Anger bubbled in her inexplicably at the sight of her.  _ She thinks she can just waltz back into town like nothing’s changed, like we’ve not suffered because she couldn’t deign to come back? Why-- _

“Hey, Bea. Uh. Mae’s back,” Angus said, looking between the two of them nervously, interrupting Bea’s black train of thought, but she was thankful. Angus and Bea had grown close; Angus needed someone to talk to and Bea was good at listening. Angus was too, and he let Bea cry on his shoulder after her mom died and after Mae left. They were there for each other in a way Gregg and Mae could never be.

“Wow. Hi,” Mae said awkwardly, turning to face Bea. She honestly looked surprised to see Bea while she shuffled her boots across the concrete floor. She looked... _ nervous _ .

“Yeah. Hi,” Bea said with more attitude than was really necessary, unpacking her computer and tablet on the milk crate she used as a drumset. Her anger was understandable, but why was she angry when only seconds ago she’d been excited to see Mae for the first time in almost two years.

“She’s totally back!!!!!!!!” Gregg yelled from a distance, looking for the bass he kept around. “Just in case,” he always said when she asked him about it.  _ Just in case Mae came back. _

“Wait, what?” Bea looked at Mae, shocked, as Gregg's words settled in. Mae had come back. For good?

“Are you, uh, here for band practice?” Mae asked, diverting the question with little grace. A quick glance-over of Mae told Bea she  _ definitely  _ was nervous. Obviously being back wasn’t for fun.  _ Who cares? _ Gods, she thought she was excited to see Mae again, but apparently, she had more feelings than she thought.

“I play drums,” she replied shortly settling on the drummer’s stool behind the milk crate. Mae opened her mouth the say something, but Gregg called Mae over and handed her the old bass. Bea was glad for the distraction because she had to blink back tears; she’d gone through so many emotions in the last twenty minutes and she didn’t know how to  _ deal _ . 

Thankfully, Gregg cried out “One, two, three!” and the music started up and it swept Bea away by the feelings the music invoked and briefly forgot why she was angry with Mae.

* * *

 

“Is it weird?” Angus asked that night when Bea came to their place. Gregg and Mae were off catching up, which Angus minded a little, and Bea knew he did because she did too. Their lives had moved on without her and now...it was like everything was supposed to go back to how it used to be.

“Yeah, a little.” She shrugged and picked imaginary lint off her shirt. It was a lot weird. She was angry at Mae for leaving, but also angry at her for coming back. She was sad Mae didn’t know how she felt, because she never paid enough attention to other people enough to grasp that they have emotions too. But she was also so happy… Finally, Mae was back.  _ Maybe  _ they could go somewhere.

“Does she know how you feel?” Angus said, a little softer this time. Bea laughed harshly.

“As if. Mae is always caught up in  _ her  _ and fails to pay attention to any of us.” Angus made an agreeing noise but didn’t comment. Bea had already made her decision. She was done pining for Mae. If Mae wanted a relationship, she would have to work for it.

“I wrote a song for her,” Bea said after several soft minutes had passed. The words themselves were hushed, but they shattered the fuzzy silence surrounding them in Angus’ yellow kitchen. Just because Mae had to work for a relationship between the two of them didn’t mean Bea couldn’t voice those feelings in a public forum that Mae will have access to and might actually understand... 

“Lemme hear!” Angus said eagerly, leaning in to take the earbud from Bea’s long fingers as she pulled them from her pocket and plugged them into the tablet. The synth sounding guitar started up and Bea tapped out the rhythm on the table along with it. She knew it by heart and she softly sang the lyrics for Angus, knowing he’d understand them better than anyone else.

_ I only knew her a week before she went away…Sometimes you can’t see someone until they’re gone…. _


End file.
